Reuters reports that Sharp, one of Apple's primary display panel partners for its mobile devices, has slashed production of iPad displays at one of its plants. Sources did not indicate the reasons for the dramatic cut, but it appears to be a combination of a shift in consumer interest to the smaller iPad mini and a natural seasonal slowdown coming out of the holiday quarter.
Sharp Corp has nearly halted production of 9.7-inch screens for Apple Inc's iPad, two sources said, as demand shifts to its smaller iPad mini.
Sharp's iPad screen production line at its Kameyama plant in central Japan has fallen to the minimal level to keep the line running this month after a gradual slowdown began at the end of 2012 as Apple manages its inventory, the industry sources with knowledge of Sharp's production plans told Reuters.
Apple also obtains iPad display panels from Samsung and LG Display, with a source at Samsung indicating that there has been no production cut there and a source at LG suggesting that any production cuts there were in line with typical seasonality.
Reports of cutbacks in iPad component production come close on the heels of reports that Apple has slashed orders for iPhone 5 parts, although there have been significant questions about the figures cited in those reports and whether the decline actually represents a weakening of demand.
MIT Technology Review has dug up a job ad posted by Apple on LinkedIn appealing to writers to help make Siri more conversational.
“[S]omeone who combines a love for language, wordplay, and conversation with demonstrated experience in bringing creative content to life within an intense technical environment.”
The ad notes that writers who apply will also need "experience in writing character-driven dialog", a good vocabulary and, ideally, knowledge of more than one language. The goal of the hirings would be to "evolve and enrich Siri."
Siri has been known for her wit and personality, with Apple attempting to allow Siri to build emotional ties with users.
Apple focused on keeping Siri's personality "friendly and humble -- but also with an edge". According to their source, they were thinking "How would we want a person to respond?" while developing the software.
After scaling back Siri's original feature set for its initial launch through Apple, the company has been working to expand compatibility to new devices such as the iPad as well as new languages. Apple has also improved Siri in iOS 6 with new movie, sports and restaurant features, and is set to introduce movie ticket purchases through Fandango with the upcoming iOS 6.1.
Black Pixel today released its first major in-house app, Kaleidoscope 2. The app that helps coders, writers and others to compare the differences in folders, images, text, and more. The app was released as a beta back in November.
At the time, The Next Web spoke with former Apple employee Michael Jurewitz and the rest of the Black Pixel team about Kaleidoscope 2:
Kaleidoscope 2 is a lovely comparison app that allows you to take two or more files, folders or images and compare them to one another. The applications are broad, with benefits that swing from developers on one end to those simply looking to compare two images side-by-side. It has full integration with Git, Subversion, Mercurial, and Bazaar. The app can be used as the default conflict resolver for code with its command line integration or simply to check the changed passages in a collaborative word document. It’s beautifully designed, fast and wonderful to use. It’s become an essential part of my toolkit already.
Black Pixel acquired Kaleidoscope and Versions last year, as well as the popular RSS reader NetNewsWire. Version 2 of Kaleidoscope is the first major bit of software that Black Pixel has put its own name on -- previously, the company focused on developing apps for outside clients.
Apple and Rovio have paired up to give away Angry Birds Rio for the iPhone and iPad for free this week, as part of Apple's 'Free App of the Week' promotion.
The game is normally $0.99 for the iPhone and $2.99 on the iPad.
Angry Birds Rio brought more of the same bird-flinging action that we all are quite familiar with by now, but also threw a couple of new very welcome twists into the formula. First and foremost are the boss fights, which were a first for the Angry Birds series and have you squaring off against the main antagonists from the Rio movie. The game also utilized more advanced graphics and recently was updated with tons of new power-ups and support for the widescreen of the iPhone 5.
Angry Birds Rio is free for a limited time on the iPhone and iPad from the App Store. [Direct link: iPhone/iPad]
Hearst is the first publisher to be featured, and its entire catalog is available to subscribers several days before the print editions hit newsstands, and before its magazines hit other platforms like Amazon's Kindle Fire.
The exclusive arrangement varies by individual publication in terms of how far in advance you’ll be able to get the various Hearst titles compared to in print and from other online storefronts like Amazon’s Kindle marketplace, but each will be available at least a few days in advance, I’m told. Existing subscribers will get early access, as well as those signing up for the first time.
The exclusive publishing window is a nice perk for potential subscribers and iPad owners, though it seems unlikely that getting a magazine a few days early would, on its own, sway potential tablet purchasers to the iPad.
Apple today added the new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro to the refurbished section of its online store, giving prospective customers the opportunity to save 15% compared to brand-new machine. Currently available models include:
All three models are listed as shipping in 1-3 business days.
As with all of Apple's refurbished products, the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro units have been thoroughly tested and reconditioned and carry a one-year warranty equal to that offered on brand-new machines.
The addition of the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro to Apple's refurbished store comes roughly two weeks after the appearance of 15-inch models. But with the 13-inch models having just been introduced in October, some four months after the launch of the 15-inch models, the smaller Retina MacBook Pro has made the transition to the refurbished store much more quickly than its larger sibling.
Square Enix calls All The Bravest a "pick-up-and-go RPG," an accurate description for the game, which incorporates the Final Fantasy series' Active Time Battle mechanic. The system has been greatly simplified, and battling consists of tapping party members to attack with little to no strategy involved. The game also does away with typical time consuming RPG activities like exploration, dungeon crawling, and dialogue.
Our sister site TouchArcade went hands-on with the game, and has this to say about the gameplay:
In the game, you can control up to 30 different classical Final Fantasy heroes across series of fights against classical villains. To attack, you tap on a character or, as we've discovered, just swipe up and down on the screen to activate all of them. After each attack, characters are smacked with a cool down timer, which keeps them from being able to attack for a few seconds.
Every enemy kills with one hit, regardless if it's just a basic Final Fantasy goblin or one of the horseman of the apocalypse. In addition to being flimsy, heroes are one note: they attack, that's it. You can’t activate special skills, you can’t target enemies, and they can't buff each other.
If you haven't caught on, this definitely isn't the Final Fantasy you know, but there’s a lot of the series' touches present. The presentation is old-school Final Fantasy. The enemies and heroes are, too. The simple "save the world" narrative hooks are all present and accounted for, as well as the late title card.
Final Fantasy All The Bravest comes with a much lower price tag than Square Enix's other offerings, which have cost as much as $17.99. Unfortunately, the initial purchase price is supplemented by a heavy focus on in-app purchases. 35 "premium" characters are unlocked at $0.99 each, and resurrecting a fallen party requires purchasable currency as well.
Patently Apple highlights an interesting Apple patent application published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today. The application describes a removable clip for a mobile device such as an iPod, with the clip integrating tactile or trackpad like controls to be used either while attached to the device or as a remote control.
In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a body having a bend and a user interface area, a connector adapted to couple to a corresponding connector on an electronic device, and a plurality of conductive elements. The bend enables the user interface area to wrap around a portion of the electronic device when the connector is coupled to the corresponding connector on the electronic device. In another embodiment, a portable electronic system includes a removable user interface and an electronic computing device having a display surface, where the removable user interface is couplable to the electronic computing device such that the removable user interface is disposed over at least a part of the display surface.
Various embodiments of Apple's removable clip with tactile controls
Despite the patent application having been filed in July 2011, the diagrams in some cases depict a classic iPod with a relatively small screen and a click wheel on the front of the device. Various embodiments of the invention show the touch portion of the clip being used on the front of the device, either with on-screen content shrinking to fit below the clip or with content being displayed behind the transparent clip to provide a dynamic interface for the clip's tactile buttons. Alternatively, the clip could be mounted in reverse to place buttons on the rear of the device, or removed entirely and clipped onto a connector on a headphone cord to serve as a remote control for the device.
As with many of Apple's patent applications, the removable clip may never make an appearance in an Apple product, but the document provides an interesting glimpse at some of the areas of interest for Apple, and certain aspects of the technology could eventually appear in a different form.
Engadget reports that Sprint will finally begin offering its Total Equipment Protection (TEP) plan for the iPhone beginning January 25. The TEP plan offers coverage not only for device failures that occur outside of Apple's standard warranty but also loss, theft, and damage.
The TEP plan consists of two parts, an $11 monthly fee for the service and then a significant $150-$200 deductible for cases where the phone requires replacement due to loss, theft, or physical damage. Consumers have 30 days from the date of purchase of their device in which to enroll in the program.
AT&T offers a similar program, although it costs $6.99 per month with a $199 deductible for all iPhone, iPad, and iPad mini models. Verizon's Total Equipment Coverage carries a special higher rate for iPhone compared to other devices, with the monthly fee set at $9.99 and deductibles ranging from $169-$199 depending on model.
Amazon today announced that it has optimized its MP3 music store for Safari on iOS devices, marking yet another step in the company's effort to eat into the iTunes Store's dominant position in the digital music market.
“Since the launch of the Amazon Cloud Player app for iPhone and iPod touch, a top request from customers has been the ability to buy music from Amazon right from their devices. For the first time ever, iOS users have a way do that – now they can access Amazon’s huge catalog of music, features like personalized recommendations, deals like albums for $5, songs for $0.69, and they can buy their music once and use it everywhere,” said Steve Boom, Vice President of Amazon Music.
Features of the Amazon MP3 store on the mobile web browser include:
- The Amazon MP3 mobile website for iPhone and iPod touches is built on HTML5, which means customers can make purchases directly from the Amazon MP3 mobile website at www.amazon.com/mp3 on their iPhones and iPod touches - Selection of over 22 million songs and over two million albums at everyday low prices - Access to everyday deals like $5 albums, $0.69 songs, and free songs from artists on the rise - Individualized recommendations based on purchase history - Immediate availability and seamless playback of purchases in the Amazon Cloud Player app - Free storage of all Amazon MP3 purchases in Amazon Cloud Player
Amazon's move to optimize its MP3 store for iOS devices comes over five years after the store debuted, but seems to be part of a renewed effort by Amazon to challenge the iTunes Store. The company has invested significantly in its Cloud Player services as a competitor to iTunes Match, and Amazon has just launched its new AutoRip feature to provide free digital versions of tracks purchased on CD, including for many orders dating as far back as 1998.
Imangi Studios' iconic endless runner Temple Run proved to be a huge success, having been downloaded more than 170 million times since it launched in mid–2011, and today, a surprise sequel to the original game hit the App Store.
Temple Run 2 features the same danger-filled action-packed experience found in the first Temple Run game, but it includes new power ups, a mine cart, zip lines, and an even bigger monkey, according to the App Store description. The game is also set in a new environment and it features enhanced graphics.
Right from first boot up you'll get a sense of deja vu as the camera sweeps in on the cursed idol that has been the cause of so much running over the past year and a half. You're still being chased by freaky monkey creatures – well, just one giant creature, actually – and you’re still using a combination of swipes and tilts to jump or slide past obstacles and collect coins. This is totally Temple Run.
However, just because the key components remain the same doesn't mean there isn't a ton of new stuff in Temple Run 2. Quite the opposite. The game takes place during the "golden hour" that’s just before sunset in a new temple floating high up in the sky. This sequel has received a big upgrade in terms of visuals and animation over its predecessor, and it makes a difference. It’s a beautiful game for sure.
Apple today added installment payment plans to its online store in China, giving Chinese buyers the option to purchase iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks via credit.
Consumers can choose to pay in installments on merchandise that costs between 300 yuan ($48) and 30,000 yuan ($4,800), through a plan from China Merchants Bank Co.
As Bloomberg notes, the credit option puts expensive devices like the iPad and the iPhone into the reach of Chinese workers, who often cannot afford to purchase Apple's devices.
Apple, based in Cupertino, California, is trying to make its products more affordable in China after being surpassed by local suppliers such as ZTE Corp. and Lenovo Group Ltd. in the smartphone market. The iPhone 5, released in China last month, is priced at 5,288 yuan on Apple's local site, equal to about six weeks' pay for the average urban worker.
"There is an enormous mid-range consumer market that they are not tapping into," said Mark Natkin, managing director of Marbridge Consulting Ltd., a Beijing-based market research firm. "They're trying to figure out how to make products more accessible to that market segment. This is a good step in that direction."
In the Foxconn factories where Apple's mobile devices are assembled, junior level workers make approximately 1,800 yuan per month, which means the iPad and the iPhone are nearly unattainable without an installment option
Apple is currently offering payment plans over three, six, 12, 18, and 24 months. A promotion that lasts through January 23 makes payment plans lasting a year or less interest free. Payment plans with 18 installments incur a fee of 6.5 percent of the selling price, and 24 installment plans have a fee of 8.5 percent.
Earlier this month, Facebook updated its Messenger iOS app with beta support for making VoIP calls between Facebook accounts. That feature was initially limited to Canadian iOS accounts but is now being opened to all U.S. accounts, reports The Verge.
To access voice calling, open the Facebook Messenger app, open a chat with someone, and click the 'i' button in the top right corner. If the feature has been activated -- and the other user also has Facebook Messenger for iOS installed -- there should be a "Free Call" button. If it's greyed out, try tapping it anyway. Facebook is rolling out the feature to all users over the next several days.
What this means is that if you live in the US, you can now call other Facebook users for free over Wi-Fi or using your phone's data connection while you're on the go. When you call someone, a push notification appears on their screen that says "Ellis Hamburger is calling," for example. The feature is especially critical for people with bad cell service at work or at home, and for those who want to conserve cell phone minutes. It's also a huge step for Facebook — which with a single feature emerges as one of the largest communities of VoIP users in the world. Yes, competitors Viber, Vonage, and Skype have had the feature for some time, but all have much smaller user bases.
Facebook's efforts create a calling system that can potentially reach its more than 1 billion users, providing a massive competition to other VoIP services like Skype, as well as allowing teenagers using iPod touch devices to make phone calls to friends using Facebook's app.
Apple today seeded build 12D54 of OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.3 to developers, marking the sixth beta iteration of the newest version of Mountain Lion. 10.8.3 was first seeded to developers in November.
Build 12D54 comes just eight days after build 12D50, and like the previous build, contains no known issues or features. Build 12D50 brought only minor changes, and asked developers to focus on testing AirPlay, AirPort, Game Center, Graphics Drivers, and Safari.
9to5Mac notes that the new build contains significant changes to WiFi, but additional changes are unknown. Registered developers can download the update on Apple’s Developer Page.
This post originally referred to Build 12D54 as the seventh developer seed of OS X 10.8.3 when it was actually the sixth seed.
AT&T has again expanded access to the FaceTime Over Cellular feature to customers on all tiered data plans with a compatible FaceTime device. Previously, only users with an LTE device -- the iPad 3 and 4, as well as the iPhone 5 and iPad mini -- could use FaceTime over cellular. The only users who still can't use the feature are users with a grandfathered unlimited data plan.
When FaceTime over Cellular launched in September 2012, we explained that we wanted to roll it out gradually to ensure the service had minimal impact on the mobile experience for all of our customers.
As a result of ongoing testing, we’re announcing AT&T will enable FaceTime over Cellular at no extra charge for customers with any tiered data plan using a compatible iOS device.
This means iPhone 4S customers with tiered plans will be able to make FaceTime calls over the AT&T cellular network. AT&T previously made FaceTime over Cellular available to customers with a Mobile Share plan and those with an LTE device on tiered plans.
AT&T says the update should be automatically applied over the next few months, and eligible users won't need to do anything special to begin using FaceTime over cellular.
The upshot is that any AT&T customer with a supported device -- the iPhone 4S and newer, the third generation iPad and newer, and the iPad mini -- will soon be able to use FaceTime over cellular.
Earlier this month, a court threw out Apple's false advertising claim against Amazon in the dispute over the "App Store" trademark, leaving unaddressed the question of trademark infringement. The two companies have been battling over the issue for nearly two years, with Apple claiming that Amazon's use of the "Appstore" name to describe its marketplace for Android apps infringes upon Apple's App Store name and causes confusion with consumers.
Bloomberg now reports that the two sides have been order to enter settlement talks over the alleged infringement in an attempt to resolve the dispute before it heads to trial later this year.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Laporte in San Francisco directed the companies to confer on March 21 and to bring their lead attorneys and people who have full authority to negotiate and settle the case, according to a court filing today. A trial is scheduled for August.
Apple is seeking a court order to block Amazon from using the term Appstore in its service to sell software for devices running Google Inc.’s Android operating system. Apple alleges the online retailer infringes its trademark and violates unfair competition laws.
Amazon has argued that the term "app store" is a generic one and that Apple should not have been preliminarily awarded a trademark on the name back in 2010. Apple originally filed for the trademark in 2008, but once the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office tentatively approved the application and published it for opposition in early 2010, Microsoft filed an objection, also arguing that the term was generic.
The trademark approval has remained in limbo, as Microsoft and Apple have agreed to postpone further debate in the process until the case between Apple and Amazon is resolved.
While questions remain about claims from earlier this week that Apple has slashed iPhone 5 component orders, CNET is now reporting on market research firm DisplaySearch senior vice president Paul Semenza's comments on how the iPhone 5's initial shipment ramp was simply too large to maintain.
"It was a very quick ramp up. The Q4 [estimate] was about 61 million [for the iPhone 5]...that may be dialed back a bit, but anything near that number is still huge," he said, referring to an estimate of display shipments for the iPhone 5.
"That would support the theory that the ramp was too much to sustain."
CNET mentions that the first quarter of sales for the iPhone 4S registered far below that for the iPhone 5, providing little reason for such a strong decline in iPhone 5 interest. Yesterday, Semenza toldThe New York Times that Apple had cut its display order from 19 million to 11-to-14 million for January, noting that demand from Apple had been "corrected significantly." But he also mentioned to CNET that he'd heard of changes to orders before the new year.
Theories abound as to the just how much Apple has cut component orders and the reasons for those cuts, but many believe that improving yields and aggressive ramping during the holiday quarter may simply have left Apple with an oversupply of parts heading into the new year. Combining that excess inventory with a natural slowdown following the strong launch quarter for the device could lead to substantial reductions in part production. Still, it seems unlikely that Apple would have miscalculated component demand for the current quarter by the nearly 50% number originally cited by Nikkei and The Wall Street Journal.
Recently, it's been reported that Apple is prepping iPhone 5S production for March ahead of a release in June or July, a rapid update cycle that could also be forcing adjustments in Apple's component orders.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a very good track record in predicting Apple's product plans, has issued a new research report outlining his expectations for Apple's 2013 product launches. Kuo believes that Apple will focus its launches on the third quarter of this year, with a number of updates throughout the company's various product families.
- iPhone: Kuo expects that Apple will introduce both an iPhone 5S and a revamped iPhone 5 around June or July of this year, with the iPhone 5S appearing very similar to the current iPhone 5 but carrying a number of upgrades including an A7 system-on-a-chip for better performance, a fingerprint sensor, and camera improvements such as an f2.0 aperture and a smart LED flash. He also believes that the lower-cost iPhone will in many ways simply be an iPhone 5 repackaged into a slightly thicker (8.2 mm vs. the current 7.6 mm) plastic enclosure available in six colors.
- iPad and iPad mini: Kuo forecasts that Apple will update both lines during the third quarter of the year, with the iPad mini gaining a Retina display as the most notable change. He also predicts that the full-size iPad will become considerably slimmer and lighter and adopt the thinner side bezels seen on the iPad mini.
- MacBook Pro: In line with his predictions from last year, Kuo believes that Apple will do away with the non-Retina MacBook Pro line in 2013, moving to an all-Retina lineup at cheaper price points than the current Retina models. Kuo also believes that Apple will tweak the design of these thinner Retina MacBook Pros, despite having just introduced the current form factor last year.
- MacBook Air: Retina displays remain a challenge for the MacBook Air given their relative thickness, and Kuo predicts that they will not be appearing in the 2013 MacBook Air lineup. Kuo believes that a move to Intel's forthcoming Haswell platform will be the main upgrade for the machines, with the update coming perhaps as soon as late in the second quarter.
- Desktops: Kuo notes that the iMac redesign has been well-received, but it appears that he does not see Retina displays coming to the lineup in 2013. He simply predicts a shift to the Haswell platform for the iMac and Mac mini in the fourth quarter of the year. Kuo's report does not address a new Mac Pro, even though Apple CEO Tim Cook had personally shared that a significant update for the line was due in 2013.
- iPod touch: Apple will reportedly discontinue the fourth-generation iPod touch, which is currently being sold alongside the new fifth-generation models. In order to fill the gap, Kuo believes that Apple will introduce a scaled-back fifth-generation model with 8 GB of storage and no rear camera at $199.
- Apple TV: Kuo predicts a minor update to the existing Apple TV product as soon as late this quarter, but he offers no details on what the update would entail. He also notes that Apple's more substantial television effort is unlikely to appear in 2013, with content issues and a lack of experience in the television set industry pushing things back until 2014.